Hasty Thaksin misses a home treat from City's next generation of superstars

It would be interesting to know if Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra tuned in to this terrific advert for football in his hotel room in Dubai last night.

If he did then the man who seems intent on undermining steady progress made by his manager Sven Goran Eriksson this season will perhaps have begun to appreciate that there is more to running a football club than short-term returns.

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City's head of youth development Jim Cassell, for example, has built a career and a formidable reputation on his ability to spot, develop and educate young footballers.

For Cassell — and indeed Chelsea's Paul Clement — football is not about personal glory. At a blustery City of Manchester Stadium last night, both these teams played some football of quality and ambition.

It was City who won it, coming from behind on the night to win 3-1 and clinch a 4-2 aggregate victory and atone for the disappointment of losing the 2006 final to Liverpool.

But that didn't really matter in a way. At the end of a day that Thaksin had seemingly done his best to spoil with his ill-advised comments at a Dubai business seminar, the real football people of this country had a spectacle of which to be proud.

Undeterred by a bad news day for their club, City's supporters arrived last night in good numbers. The cruel could suggest that they are merely desperate to see their club win something — anything in fact.

The truth, however, is merely that these supporters — more than most — do appreciate what following and building a football club really means.

Maybe some of them should send a few emails to their seemingly deluded owner. In total, there were close to 20,000 in the ground last night.

A couple of hundred had even come up from Chelsea. It was a great effort from both sets of supporters at a time when young players need the encouragement to make it through one of the most demanding phases of their career.

Sadly for City, there was no Daniel Sturridge. The 18-year-old forward was injured in the first team's win at Sunderland on Saturday and missed his big night, just as Micah Richards did when City lost this final to Liverpool two years ago.

Eriksson was also in attendance last night and quite right too.

For the City manager, this is a time to continue to plan ahead and not to worry unduly about what a man in the Far East may have in mind for him next month.

With Chelsea fielding just one player who had come through their ranks, captain Seth Nana Ofori-Twumasi, and City sending out a side containing a good number of local youngsters, perhaps the neutrals would have been tempted to pull for the home side.

Certainly, Chelsea's play had the more pleasurable build-up. They had enjoyed a training camp in Sardinia, while City had warmed up for the final at their Platt Lane academy, near Manchester's Curry Mile.

At the end of the first half, though, it was City who were feeling sunnier as they recovered from the setback of conceding a comical early goal to lead 2-1.

Only five minutes had passed when Chelsea took the lead and it will certainly not be a moment that City defender Ryan McGivern remembers with any satisfaction.

A run and shot from Chelsea's Jacob Mellis — who cost £1.3million from Sheffield United — produced a parry from home goalkeeper Greg Hartley, but the ball rebounded to smack McGivern flush in the face and dropped embarrassingly into the net.

It was an awful start for the City kids, but the manner in which they recovered was admirable and they eventually equalised in the 25th minute.

Andrew Tutte, who enjoyed a great night, brought the best out of keeper Rhys Taylor from the edge of the area and then picked up possession on the right from the ensuing corner and beat his man to land a deep cross on the head of Ben Mee. The City captain and centre half could not miss.

Better was to follow for Cassell's team as they bounded into the lead before the halfhour mark. This time it was Vladimir Weiss who enjoyed his moment of glory as he curled a superb free-kick into the top corner with his right foot.

Weiss helped to seal it for sure when he was brought down by Sergio Rodriguez in the box three minutes from time and David Ball converted the penalty.

To add to Chelsea's woe, Mellis was sent off in injury time for a late tackle on Kieran Trippier, who was stretchered off.

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Hasty Thaksin misses a home treat from City's next generation of superstars